[Devastating community-acquired Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia].

Three patients, two men aged 52 and 62 years and a woman aged 83 years, experienced non-specific flu-like symptoms for a few days but subsequently developed a complicated disease with multiple metastatic infections and endocarditis due to bacteraemia. Only the man aged 62 years had a port of entry, a finger wound. Two patients died. Community-acquired S. aureus bacteraemia is a much more serious disease than nosocomial bacteraemia. The community-acquired bacteraemia is characterised by the absence of a primary focus and non-specific flu-like symptoms in the beginning. This results in a long-duration bacteraemia with a high incidence of metastatic infections, endocarditis and a high mortality rate. A multidisciplinary treatment approach with a careful search for and treatment of endocarditic and metastatic infections in combination with long-duration, high-dose antibiotics is warranted.